I got the flu shot this year as I do every year. That was almost 3 weeks ago and my arm/shoulder still hurts. It was so bad that last week I went to the doc after reading threads like this online. He said we could spend a lot of money on tests (which may come back inconclusive) and physical therapy (which may not really speed up the healing process) but in the end it is probably just a matter of time. He DID give me a steriod pack which I finished yesterday morning...the last pill. The steriods helped immediately, however today when I woke up the stiffness is back in the shoulder and I am hoping it doesn't get worse.
At its worst, the pain was so bad that when I tried to remove my gown over my head I doubled over...unable to the complete the task. I had tingling and numbness in my arm and fingers, and down into my shoulder blade. I have never had anything from past flu shots other than a little arm soreness that lasted a couple of days. This is different. Like the others we believed that the shot was a little high and also towards the back of the shoulder.
Because of a lowered kidney function my doc has told me to limit NSAID intake. This is bad news since that is the only thing that actually helped the pain. Since I can't afford expensive tests or PT right now (and from reading the blog they don't really seem to help much in the diagnosis or recovery) I'm gonna give it a little time...unless it gets worse and becomes unbearable again. I plan to keep checking back here and reporting the progress. I DID feel better after reading the posts because I realized this was apparently not just some funky anomaly that only I was experiencing.
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I got the flu shot this year as I do every year. That was almost 3 weeks ago and my arm/shoulder still hurts. It was so bad that last week I went to the doc after reading threads like this online. He said we could spend a lot of money on tests (which may come back inconclusive) and physical therapy (which may not really speed up the healing process) but in the end it is probably just a matter of time. He DID give me a steriod pack which I finished yesterday morning...the last pill. The steriods helped immediately, however today when I woke up the stiffness is back in the shoulder and I am hoping it doesn't get worse.
At its worst, the pain was so bad that when I tried to remove my gown over my head I doubled over...unable to the complete the task. I had tingling and numbness in my arm and fingers, and down into my shoulder blade. I have never had anything from past flu shots other than a little arm soreness that lasted a couple of days. This is different. Like the others we believed that the shot was a little high and also towards the back of the shoulder.
Because of a lowered kidney function my doc has told me to limit NSAID intake. This is bad news since that is the only thing that actually helped the pain. Since I can't afford expensive tests or PT right now (and from reading the blog they don't really seem to help much in the diagnosis or recovery) I'm gonna give it a little time...unless it gets worse and becomes unbearable again. I plan to keep checking back here and reporting the progress. I DID feel better after reading the posts because I realized this was apparently not just some funky anomaly that only I was experiencing.
October 5, 2010 - 7:30amThis Comment
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